Infinity And Parasocial Media

What Can We Gain By Losing Infinity?

Gregory Barber | Quanta | 29th April 2026

Profile of Doron Zeilberger, mathematician and proponent of "ultrafinitism", a contrarian theory which holds that there is, ultimately, a largest number. Thus, the lines our equations describe will eventually meet somewhere. Without the mysterious concept of "infinity", mathematics becomes more realistic and more practical, he argues. Centuries of history, and most of his peers, disagree (4,300 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

Social Media Is Now Parasocial Media

danah boyd | Social Media + Society | 16th April 2026

Tech researcher looks back on twenty years of analysing the internet. In the 2000s, the terminology was still unclear: what phrase could accurately describe both distributed online communities formed around special interests and the earliest incarnation of Twitter? "Social media" became the default. It's no longer accurate. People scroll far more than they post. Online spaces are no longer "social" (2,600 words)